Talks are under way that could lead to a compromise. Neither plan would do what other states have done - remove elected officials from the process. Non-partisan commissions or agencies in Arizona, California and Iowa, among other states, do the work under strict rules designed for fairness.

"There are a dozen different ways you could do this and it would be much better than the system we have. I'm trying to get at doing it as simply as possible," Husted, a Republican now running for lieutenant governor, said in a telephone interview Friday.

Maybe not entirely, but it's a lot better than what exists now (there currently are no geographic or bipartisan requirements under Ohio law). Husted's idea offers more hope for meaningful change than the Republican proposal in the Senate, but could fall short of the proposal from the petition effort.

Currently, Cuyahoga and Summit counties each are split into four districts, each district of which extends into other counties.

Eight of Ohio's congressional districts would become "highly competitive," according to the website's analysis for a county-based plan. Two seats would usually be won by Democrats and six would usually be won by Republicans.

This fivethirtyeight.com map makes following county lines a priority in creating compact congressional districts in Ohio. The areas shown in purple are projected to be competitive races between Democrats and Republicans.fivethirtyeight.com

That kind of balance is what election expert Daniel Tokaji, associate dean for faculty at Ohio State University's law school, said should be part of redistricting reform - a system where representatives can be held unaccountable by the voters.

"You want fairness. In a 50-50 state, you don't want one party controlling 12 districts, and the other party four," Tokaji said. "You don't need all of them to be competitive, but you want some competitive so if there is a change in sentiment, there is a level of accountability."

The details

But there is an important consideration in the make-it-simple approach. To what extent can it be done?

Iowa and West Virgina successfully draw districts along county lines, but they don't have urban areas like Ohio, a complicating factor when trying to piece together the puzzle with population equality in mind.

What do you do with the spillover from Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties - counties all big enough for a single district but not two, according to the last census? And limiting the mixes and matches elsewhere would be other large counties each taking up more than half of a district - Stark, Butler, Lucas, Montgomery and Summit.

The number crunchers at fivethirtyeight.com determined that making districts compact while following county lines in Ohio would still result in 15 county splits.

This is far fewer than could occur under both the GOP plan in the Ohio Senate, and the current system.

So how do you prevent unsavory deeds at map drawing time when the county populations cannot be pieced together for balance?

The proposal being circulated in the petitions by the good-government groups would establish a series of criteria aimed at keeping the districts local and in-balance with the state's political leanings, based on past election results.

Husted's idea places faith on requiring bipartisanship to "force the process where Democrats and Republican have to work together."

For that, Husted said a different section of the 2015 reform could be the answer, largely as also proposed in the petition effort.

Under the change approved by voters in 2015, the next Statehouse maps will be handled by a seven-member group - the governor, auditor and secretary of state (all elected statewide) - and two Republican and two Democratic appointments from Statehouse leaders. A minimum of two votes from each party will be required for a new set of 10-year maps.

"We don't have to innovate something new here," Husted said. "We had something both parties and the voters confirmed as acceptable."

This differs from the GOP proposal in the Ohio Senate. The Senate plan would only use this group if map-drawing by the legislature failed, and even then the legislature could still have final say if enough bipartisan support was not gathered.

Husted suggested instead that if the seven-member group failed to get the required bipartisan approval, the majority's work should be placed on the ballot. Voters would then be given the chance to approve or reject the maps.

The end game

Ohio State's Tokaji said Husted offered a "constructive suggestion." What Tokaji is most concerned is that reform is real.

"There are various approaches. I think this is something on which reasonable people can differ," Tokaji said. "Is it really important to have compact districts? Some people think it is. I wouldn't prioritize that. ... How important is it to keep cities and counties together?

Tokaji's test is this: "Are we at the end going to have representative fairness and competitive districts?"

With the current system in Ohio, the answer is no.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner.

Vote history

Shown below are combined vote totals for past congressional elections in Ohio, comparing the total votes won statewide (excluding votes for third-party and independent candidates) and the number of congressional races won statewide. New congressional maps are drawn every 10 years.

The last two sets of maps, those approved in 2001 and 2011, were approved with the Republican Party holding control of all three steps of the process - the Ohio House, Ohio Senate and governor's office. Party control was split in the previous cycles shown.

Note: Excluded from the statewide tables are votes for third-party and independent candidates, as well as votes in special elections.This allowed for a direct comparison between share of votes won and congressional seats won.